Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse

The Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse was a naval action which occurred on 10 December 1941 when the British Royal Navy battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Repulse were both sunk by Imperial Japanese Navy bombers while attempting to intercept Japanese troop ships heading for Malaya in the South China Sea. The British ships failed to locate the troop ships and had begun to return home when 34 torpedo aircraft and 51 level bombers bombarded the British ships with bombs and torpedos, and the battle demonstrated the superiority of aircraft over battleships. 840 British sailors were killed, including Admiral Tom Phillips, the highest-ranking Allied commander to be killed in World War II, and the incident was considered to be the worst naval disaster which the United Kingdom suffered during the war. Afterwards, the Allies began to emphasize the use of aircraft carriers instead of battleships, which were sitting ducks without air cover.